Emir

I bought a sealed bottle of "Emir" cologne (colonia) and found Suzanne S's review is exact--- her listing of notes and overall scent impressions is perfectly accurate, and the reference to "Opium' makes sense. Think of older "Opium", with a more vintage 30s vibe, and you'll have a reasonable sense of what "Emir" smells like. It actually reminds me very much of "Youth Dew", or even more so, "Secret de Venus", but lighter. It is completely unisex. Sensual, rich, earthy, and not girly; I can easily see Frida Kahlo choosing this scent. Like the rough-cut but weighty necklaces and homespun but heavily embroidered folkloric dresses she favoured, it has a hefty, sparky, artistic beauty to it. Sillage is close but discernible, and duration I'd call weak to medium. It blooms a bit more in heat. I would call it an Oriental, as its name might suggest; but like many old Orientals, it flirts with Chypre, if that makes sense. I'd love to smell the extrait formulation of this some day... If "Emir" were still in production (and not bastardised like so much else, especially the oakmoss driven compositions), I'd wear the hell out of it.

New old stock freshly opened bottle of the lotion formula. Bright fresh citric aldehydes open the fragrance with heart florals of rose jasmine and carnation behind. Spicy clove cinnamon give this a lighter slightly soapy frrsh feel of opium edt when its in the heart phase. As it drys down the leathery oakmoss and balsams take over with the ambergris lending itself to brighten and amplify the heart and the civet to augment the florals as well. Its a beautiful daytime scent that straddles the center of leathery chypre and oriental spices and insence. Jean Carles is the nose. This is expert vintage perfumary to create something beautifully cohesive to straddle both genres. Its gorgeous. Top notes of aldehydes, citronella, lemongrass, bergamot and camphor; middle notes of coriander, Bulgarian rose, iris, ylang-ylang, frankincense, jasmine, carnation, galbanum, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lily of the valley; and base notes of orris, incense, vanilla, labdanum, tolu balsam, leather, musk, sandalwood, benzoin, patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver, cedar, civet and ambergris.

This is one of the most beautiful fragrances I’ve ever smelled. It’s rich, dark, smoky, and ambery. The high-quality vanilla blends beautifully with animalic and floral notes, absolutely mind-blowing.

Emir was Frida Kahlo’s perfume! It opens with a boozy dark amber, some dry citrus peel, and a slug of civet. It’s definitely a spicy Oriental in the vein of Tabu and Youth Dew, but drier than either of them, more about amber and less about cloves. I get the dry, crackling effect of coriander too, I think. Civet and coriander are both pale-gold, arrow-sharp scents that make a perfume feel more alive. Emir has the same animalic base as Tabu; dark, rich, like a gravy or jam. That slightly offputting hint of savoriness. A few minutes in I’m getting a lot of what I think is sandalwood incense; there’s a warm, woody spiciness. I also get occasional weird whiffs of galbanum that’s gone sour. I can feel the softness from iris about 45 minutes in, and a little bit of tender rose, picked out with galbanum thorns It’s weird, there’s a lovely fresh rose spring floral overlaid on a super-rich resinous/animalic oriental. Totally separate except for a little thread of civet that winds through both. There’s a weird effect when you can smell the rich syrupy base at the same time as the fresh green-floral top, like a cathedral that’s dark with shadow at ground level but has sunlight streaming in from the windows far above. Over the next two hours it becomes vaguer but still sends whiffs of a warm-spicy radiance up from my wrists. “Tabu with a green rose on top” pretty much sums it up. I rarely like these chimaeras as much as the pure archetypes, with a few exceptions like Vert et Blanc. Does Emir “work” as a category-defying scent? Does the rose really cut the sometimes excessive sweetness and funkiness of Tabu? i’m not sure it does — it really feels like two fragrances, not one. Does Emir “work” as a cozy, confident, lush winter scent? Yes, for sure. Frida knew what she was doing.

Another estate sale find for me. My bottle starts with a sharp biting leather, oakmoss, carnation and spices, but after a few minutes it mellows and I begin to also smell rose, vetiver, musk, amber, frankinscence, jasmine, cloves and honey. It is a thick, syrupy, feminine fragrance for the woman who walks to the beat of her own drum, she's worldly and down to earth. I wouldn't say it's an oriental although it could be, but I think maybe more of a chypre leather floral. Gorgeous.